‘Give me a magic wand and I will…..’

‘This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.’

‘Give me a magic wand and I will….. bring the Jurassic world back to life!’

So, when BlogAdda came up with this interesting WOW prompt, I was glad considering the myriad wishes I could come up with in writing. However, a few minutes of pondering left me with absolutely no words. And, I gathered….writing on seemingly simple topics is more difficult than writing a research article..

“How to begin a post?”, “How to headline?”, “ How to bring out the best of one’s thoughts?” are the Q’s that plague my head space when an interesting topic comes my way. And just look at the cue – “Give me a magic wand and I will…..” It is such a happy question that brings along such wishful answers. Had I been asked this a few years back, I would have demanded a genie in the split second of the time my eyelashes meet each other.

Well, the happy thought quickly entailed a plethora of doubts –

“A genie that would do just house keeping, perhaps….”,

“Can I trust the genie with taking care of my family?”,

“What if it goes rogue?” (My worst fear!)

It took me a couple of years to understand that human greed clubbed with doubts is as high as the sky and, as wide as the milky way. And, like a typical Indian homemaker, I might end up demoralizing the genie that the work could have been better without its contribution. So, I did not get a genie I wished for years back. Rather, I transformed into one – the feisty home maker. I did everything a home maker does, but at a slow and steady pace. There would be days when the home resembled a museum and, there would be days when people would have mistaken it for a birdhouse. And yet, all those moments of taking care of home, family and additionally, work from home (freelancing) made me realize how lucky I am, to be the genie of my life. The reason that I had absolute control over my home and my life, regardless of the chaotic manner in which it happened, gave me the peace of mind I needed. Had by the faintest brush of magic, a genie entered my life, I would have probably transformed into a fossil given that there would be nothing I would be motivated to do in life beyond the basic needs. After all, there is the genie.

Now, that I mentioned about a fossil, I remember my son’s fascination with the Jurassic era. And, I feel the answer to this wishful question is best answered by a child whose imagination is burning bright with countless possibilities of magic.

So, this was a small conversation between my son Arjun and I, that happened today.

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Me: “Arjun, what would you do if you wished for a magic wand and, you got it?”

A: “Why do you ask?”

Me: “I have to blog about a topic and the cue for it is this – “Give me a magic wand and, I will…“. I thought I will take your help. You will help me, right?”

A: “Blog is what you do on that laptop? Tapping the keys and, the words appear on the screen?”

Me: “Exactly! The same” (In Tamil, “Adhe!”)

A: “hmm….So, what is a magic wand?” (Clarity first! I like it, son!)

Me: “Magic wand is a tool of magic that fairies use. They swish them with your wish and, your wish comes true. Just like the one from the story of Cindrella.”

A: “aaah! That is interesting.”

Me: “So….what have you thought? What will you do if you get a magic wand?”

A: “Give me a magic wand and I will.……bring the Jurassic world back to life!”

Me: (I should have know this was coming. Having watched every part of Jurassic series with rapt attention, my son has deduced that the ‘painfully wronged’ dinosaurs should be brought back to life.) “But seriously, why dinosaurs?”

A: “I like them, mum! I want them back! And then, I will raise baby dinos just like Sid in Ice Age 3 does. They are so cute!”

The conversation was not a spurt that happened in a day. Ever since my son watched the first movie – The Jurassic Park, Richard Attenborough’s research clubbed with Jeff Goldblum’s hesitancy over the entire plan of recreating Jurassic world, it created a soft corner for these fossil-ed reptiles in my son’s mind. The ending of the movie was exactly what he wished for, especially the scene wherein the banner of Jurassic park falls across the good T-Rex towards the end. For him, the ending felt like magic – The reptile had survived the acid tests of human times!

A few weeks before, I had given my son some work in Maths. And, I had dozed off since the cough and cold got to both due to traveling. For me, sleep was a need. And for the son, no sleep was a need. After an hour, when I woke up, I saw something that made me first angry and then, happy. Angry, because he had conveniently ditched the work I gave him. Happy, because he created this….

Moments later, I had posted about it on FaceBook. And, I don’t mind sharing what I wrote that day:

Can there be a more potent magic wand than a child’s imagination?

Dear son! You don’t need a magic wand. You already have it. And, it is called Imagination. Keep it alive even as the world of humans would try to kill it. And that, my son is your test, the test you actually need to pass and come out with flying colors! And, I am sure you will! God bless 🙂